The story of tea begins in China. According to legend, in 2737 BC, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung was sitting beneath a tree while his servant boiled drinking water, when some leaves from the tree blew into the water. Shen Nung, a renowned herbalist, decided to try the infusion that his servant had accidentally created.
China is considered to have the earliest records of tea consumption, with possible records dating back to the 10th century BC.
The first tea used in England originated in China, and it wasn't until the 19th century that tea growing spread to Formosa and that indigenous tea was discovered in Assam. In 1839, the first Indian tea was sold in London.
Tea was introduced to India by the British in the nineteenth century, to overcome the monopoly of Chinese production. The first area to be planted was the mountain region surrounding the city of Darjeeling, perched on the Himalayan foothills, in the 1850s.
According to legend, tea was first discovered by the Chinese emperor Shennong in 2737 BC. It is said that the emperor liked his drinking water boiled before he drank it. One day, while the servant began boiling water for him, a dead leaf from a wild tea bush fell into the water.
Through colonisation by the British, tea was introduced to Australia. In fact, tea was aboard the First Fleet in 1788. Tea is a large part of modern Australian culture due to its British origins. Australians drink tea and have afternoon tea and morning tea much the way the British do.
The story of tea begins in China. According to legend, in 2737 BC, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung was sitting beneath a tree while his servant boiled drinking water, when some leaves from the tree blew into the water.
Pre-colonial Tea Consumption: Ancient India and Trade Cities (1200s - 1600s) While tea drinking has only recently become widespread, the practice does have ancient origins in India. In the northeastern state of Assam, tea grew in the wild.
It originated in Hong Kong, and may have its origins in the introduction of the practice of drinking afternoon tea with milk and sugar under British colonial rule. When using evaporated milk, sugar is often added to sweeten the tea.
All the tea in the world came from China, and Britain couldn't control the quality or the price. So around 1850, a group of British businessmen set out to create a tea industry in a place they did control: India.
Before the British East India Company turned its thoughts to tea, Englishmen drank mostly coffee.
Once upon a tea-time
How did tea come to England? It all began in China. By the time this wholesome drink made its way to England, tea drinking had been around in China for more than four thousand years! Until the mid 19th century, China was the only country on earth that knew how to cultivate and process tea.
Cultivation of tea began in British India during the early 1800s. By that time, Britain was already addicted to drinking tea, and had been importing massive quantities from China. So prized was this leaf that the English East India Company (successfully) fought wars to secure its supply.
With many generations harvesting the same trees, Chinese farmers tend not to mess with what makes their tea famous. Tea isn't native to Japan, but tea farming has been an established Japanese craft since the 13th century.
Looking back a little further one would wonder, what Indians might be drinking before the advent of tea as a social drink. One would believe that butter milk (Chaach), yogurt drink (Lassi) in summers, and warm milk in winters must be the choice of beverage which ruled the roost in older times.
Most of us like sipping on doodh-wali-chai because of the flavour or just out of habit. Initially, people started added dairy so as to reduce the bitterness of the tea; however, the addition turned into a habit and ended up becoming an addiction for most.
Milk's special significance in India goes back to Hindu mythology and the legend of the Samudra manthan, the churning of the ocean that brought forth the drink of immortality, the amrit, and also the goddess Kamdhenu, which manifested itself as a wish-granting divine cow.
Tea was introduced to India by the British. Of course, the Indians also drank their tea with milk and sugar than the British. But over the years it has been changed through many subcontinental adjustments and improvements. Indian tea / chai is stronger than normal.
Coffee predominates in the Americas and in continental Europe, while tea is preferred in most of Asia and the former Soviet Union.
Asia has long tradition of tea-drinking. And China is no exception. However, lately more and more Chinese people are turning to a different drink. Coffee has become an increasingly popular choice of Chinese people living abroad and in the country's huge cities.
In the 1830s, the first tea estates were established in the Indian state of Assam, using tea plants brought from China.
The researchers noted that women tend to drink more tea than men and, generally speaking, tea drinkers tend to have healthier lifestyles than coffee drinkers. Both of these factors might have influenced the findings in this study.
Black Tea. Perhaps the most famous, and most popular, tea in the world, black tea is a staple in many households. There are several types of black tea in the market, but Ceylon tea is widely considered to be one of the finest brews.